Slayings of Eddy Curry's ex, infant spur custody hearings

Gesturing as best he could with his arms shackled, the attorney being held on charges of killing former Bull Eddy Curry's infant daughter and ex-girlfriend questioned his former wife during an emotional custody hearing Friday.

Frederick Goings, charged in the slayings of Nova Henry, 24, and Ava Curry-Henry, 10 months, made the unusual courtroom appearance after ex-wife Susanna Cornish made an emergency bid for custody of their daughter after his arrest last week in the double murder.

In another downtown courtroom Friday, a separate child custody case involving Curry's 3-year-old son, Noah, took a twist when lawyers said the NBA player's mother is seeking custody. The boy was discovered bloodied but unharmed in the South Loop home in which his mother and sister were found fatally shot last month.

Michael Kalcheim, an attorney representing Yolan Henry, Noah's grandmother, contended Curry's mother has seen the boy only a few times since he was born.

"This case is turning into a circus," Kalcheim said.

Meanwhile, in an interview, Cornish, 25, gave new details about Goings' allegedly abusive history, accusing the attorney of stabbing several members of her family, bashing her brother's head with a stove top and biting her nose after threatening to kill her.

The California college student tried to remain composed as she was questioned by Goings, who was just 2 feet away and flanked by as many as four armed guards. Goings was allowed to ask Cornish at length about whether she sent their child Christmas presents or called the girl on her birthday. The girl turns 5 Sunday.

After Goings questioned Cornish's best friend, Kandance Champion, 24, for several minutes, the Chicago woman told Judge Raul Vega she did not want to answer. The judge asked why.

"He put her through ... hell for no reason," she said, her voice rising. "This man is a killer and he has her child!"

Cornish said that when her daughter was about a month old, Goings asked her to go inside a Sacramento grocery to buy diapers while he and the child waited in the car. When she returned to the parking lot, they were gone, she said. Goings had fled with their daughter to Chicago, she said.

Cornish alleged that Goings won custody by default when he had court notices intentionally mailed to an incorrect address.

"He was very manipulative, very jealous," she said. "He was abusive emotionally, mentally and physically."

Vega ordered that Cornish be allowed to have unsupervised visits with her daughter and said that if Cornish obtains an apartment and job in Chicago, he will consider granting her custody of her daughter.

Goings, 36, of Chicago was charged Sunday in the slayings of Henry and her daughter. Police say the slayings took place Jan. 24 -- Goings' birthday, according to court records.